Lian Sharkia: Teta

The exhibition forms a chapter in Lian Sharkia's (b. 2000, Jatt, the "Triangle" area) journey into her grandmother's past. Born in Haifa in 1946, Samia left for the village of Jatt at the age of nineteen following her marriage. The works on view offer a glimpse into her memories and stories, reflected and reconstructed through the eyes of her granddaughter. The quest into family history thus evolves into a personal exploration of identity: the artist assumes a dual role: she listens to the stories as an outside observer, while at the same time actively participating in shaping memory.

The grandmother's childhood stories are rooted in Haifa's urban landscape, specifically in Wadi Nisnas, adjacent to the Museum. Sharkia moves fluidly between the streets of the wadi, family archive photographs, and the family home in Stella Maris. Her works employ a range of photographic techniques, from frottage (rubbing transfer) through direct photography and scanning to interventions in the image by means of retouching, cutting, and reassembling. These gestures echo the fragmentary essence of memory, coalescing into a multilayered installation in which personal, familial, and local histories are intertwined.

Sharkia seeks to create a box that would capture and contain her grandmother's memories. The box recurs throughout the exhibition, appearing both as an image and an object. In the central installation, it comes apart, offering further testimony to the elusive, fragile, and subjective nature of memory. Rather than piling up inside the box, the photographs cascade out, disrupting the distinction between interior and exterior. The box, as positioned, evokes Haifa's topography, and is once again distanced from its original function as a receptacle.

The grandmother's childhood memories carry a tender, comforting yearning, but they also stir a sense of missing out. The exhibition asks what life Samia might have led had she remained in the city. Similarly, Sharkia asks herself how her own life might have unfolded had she grown up in Haifa. Through the artist's eyes, the wound of uprooting that has accompanied her grandmother since youth reemerges, shedding new light on the wound of Haifa itself. 

Lian Sharkia is a participant of The Space for Community Art Incubator.

The exhibition was made possible through the generosity of the Daniel Howard Foundation and the Edmond de Rothschild Center.

Curator: Adi Lam
Curator of The Space for Community Art Incubator: Oz Zloof